Defaulted credit card debt still higher than pre-recession levels

Charged off credit card debt accounted for 7.7 percent of all accounts at the end of the fourth quarter of last year, according to a report from the Center for American Progress. That marked a decline of 29.4 percent from the all-time peak observed in the second quarter of the same year.

However, this rate was still significantly higher than it was prior to the recession's onset, the report said. Even the new lower levels of defaulted credit card debt are 85.5 percent higher than those observed in the fourth quarter of 2007.

Many consumers across the country struggled under the weight of increased credit card debt during the recession, often as a result of drops in income levels due to prolonged unemployment.